Batman The Brave and the Bold

Batman: The Animated Series is arguably one of the most influential DC Comics properties of the past three decades --- at least where the Dark Knight himself is concerned. But the last year or so has seen a pretty interesting shift in how Batman is presented in the comics. The BTAS influence is never going away, but the past few months of the Rebirth era have shown us an entirely different influence on the Caped Crusader: Batman: The Brave and the Bold.

Q: How would Batman fare in the world of Wacky Races? -- @sprucetonberry

A: I'm going to go go ahead and guess that this question was inspired by this week's release of DC's new Wacky Raceland comic, in which the classic road race cartoon was reimagined for the grim darkness of a post-apocalyptic future. With that being the case, I have to admit that the comic was a little disappointing for me. As much as I love that premise and the idea of going super over-the-top with it --- and as much as there were scenes in there that captured exactly what I want out of a story like that --- the whole thing left me a little cold.

But like most things in this fallen world of ours, I'm pretty sure it could be improved with the addition of Batman.

Listen, I don't want to get up on a soap box here, because that's not what ComicsAlliance is about, but there's something that really bothers me at this time of year. I've read a lot of holiday comics, and very, very few of them even touch on the true meaning of Christmas. Sure, there's a lot about the spirit of giving and being a good person, but that's the kind of stuff that superhero comics are always about anyway. There's something more behind Christmas, something eternal, something that a lot of people want to ignore for the sake of being "inclusive" or whatever nonsense reasons they have this year.

I'm sorry if this offends anyone, but let's be real: There's a reason we have Christmas, and it's time we acknowledge that. And that reason is that Batman reversed time to stop the Earth from being blown up by antimatter.

Beware the Batman and Young Justice are two examples of animated shows that haven't exactly been treated well. Both Warner Bros. series were unceremoniously pulled from Cartoon Network, only to return to burn off episodes, sometimes in the middle of the night.

Treatment like that would seemingly indicated little commitment to release the series on home video, but never fear, fans. Warner Archive announced this week that it will release the second part of Beware the Batman's first season and the complete first season of Young Justice on Blu-Ray. Along with those, the company will also offer the full second season of Batman: The Brave and the Bold, and the classic 1960s Aquaman animated series will be available through Warner Archive's streaming service.

Over the past 20 years, the music of Batman: The Animated Series, composed by a team led by the amazing Shirley Walker, has been praised to the high heavens. There's a good reason for that, too, since it's basically amazing, but one of the side effects is that it's overshadowed the music of Warner Bros Animation's other shows based on the DC Comics supheroes. Now, two of them are finally getting their due in the form of a special edition release from La-La Land Records.

Released this week, the four-disc soundtrack album for the classic 1990s Superman: The Animated Seriesand a two-disc set for contemporary favorite Batman: The Brave and the Bold are now shipping from La-La Land, with selections from the best episodes of each series, comprising hours of audio alongside in-depth liner notes.

This week, the first sesason of Batman: The Brave and the Bold was released on Blu-ray, marking the first time that the entire season of the Caped Crusader's animated team-up has been available. That's why we're marking the occasion -- because I will take literally any excuse to talk about BATB -- by taking a look back at the highlights of those first 26 episodes.

If you've never seen it, or even if you have and are just getting ready to dive back in to all the HD goodness, then here are the bits and pieces to watch out for that made the show so great: The Ten Best Moments from Batman: The Brave and the Bold Season 1!

If you've been flipping through new comics this month, you've probably seen the ads announcing that Batman: The Brave and the Boldis being released on BluRay soon. With that being the case, now seems like a good time to look back on what might just end up being my favorite take on the DC Universe of all time, full of team-ups, ruthless villains, and, perhaps most importantly, Batman's laser sword.

I talked to producers James Tucker and Michael Jelenic and director Ben Jones to get their thoughts looking back on the show, what they felt they'd accomplished, and how well it holds up.

Chip Kidd's collection of Jiro Kuwata's Japanese Batman stories from the '60s was one of my favorite collections in recent memory, so it goes without saying that I was pretty excited about a Bat-Manga-inspired segment featured on an episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold...

DVD: The third and final season of Batman: The Brave and the Bold gets collected June 19 and will include a digital comic and more as part of its special features.

Awards: If you're a comics pro, retailer or graphic novel librarian, you still have until Friday, March 23 to vote for who you'd like to see inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards Hall of Fame...

This week, ComicsAlliance's War Rocket Ajax podcast welcomes our first guest of 2012, animator and director Ben Jones! We talk to him about his work on Batman: The Brave and the Bold, including episodes like "Mayhem of the Music Meister" and the series finale, "Mitefall" -- and you can listen to the whole show, right here at ComicsAlliance...

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